September 4 2011
After that really rough night sleep,
we took it a little easy this morning.
We took a family nap about an hour after he woke up.
We then got ready for our day and headed out!
We were able to see Collin's sister and her husband for a bit this morning.
{And see their beautiful new home... I'm home jealous.}
Then we went to Woodland Park Zoo.
Part of the reason that we went to the zoo is because our friends were going.
The Asays.
I'm not going to bore you with a whole narrative of everything that happened.
And fortunately for you, I decided that taking pictures of animals was unnecessary.
I'm not going to look back at pictures someday and say,
"Wow, Look at that hippo! It's amazing!"
Let's be honest... we all won't.
Thus, the pictures are of us.
Our friend Aubrey Asay immediately wanted Eithan when we arrived.
I was more than willing to oblige her.
She carried him around for quite a while and tried to get him to look at all the animals.
{In these two it actually looks like he is looking at them...
you'll find out later that he doesn't really.}
They thought it would be funny to do a "family" photo.
They don't have any children yet, and we were distracted by other things at the moment.
So, they wanted to see if we would actually notice that they were taking a "family" photo.
*****
As we wandered around all the typical baby needs popped up.
He needed to be changed.
He needed a drink.
He needed to get out of his stroller.
But in all of this.
His little temperament certainly showed through a lot.
We would go from this little tyke of curiousness.
{Don't you love the penguin swimming in the background.}
To this.
I love my face in this one. Priceless.
As we went around... we, of course, wanted to take pictures.
What we did not realize was that the Asay family has a "photo oping" craziness.
Every time we turned around they wanted to stop and take pictures.
I thought that I was a crazy picture taker.
I've got nothing on these folks.
Thus, we were able to get some of these family pictures.
I do love that we were able to get pictures of all of us.
That was one really nice part about going with friends.
*****
Now back to Eithan.
When we would get to an animal exhibit.
One of us would try and point out the animals to him.
He would smile and giggle at us.
Try to grab our hair or anything else that we had.
And then not look at the animals.
I wasn't really expecting him to get too excited about the animals.
But a small part of me hoped that he would at least kinda recognize that this was 'cool'.
So, this is how it would go.
{1}
Collin and Aubrey would try and get him to look at the animals.
{or whoever was holding him would try to}
{2}
Eithan would get distracted.
Either by the other person or the hordes of people around us.
He would be more interested in playing with them, than looking at what we were trying to point out.
{3}
The actual animal we were looking at in this series.
{I had to throw in one picture of an animal...
besides... anyone else know that flamingo's legs bend forward?}
{4}
We would get him to look for a second or two before getting distracted again by something else.
This time he actually did look at the flamingos for a little while.
And that's how it was for a lot of the zoo.
When we realized that it was a little fruitless to try and get him to enjoy the animals.
The zoo started going like this...
Eithan was having more fun with this water bottle and sunglasses than he was with us carrying him around.
So, our happy little boy rode around, not strapped in, in his stroller.
It made me nervous not strapping him in.
But when he was strapped in... he would throw a hissy fit!
So we watched him carefully to make sure he didn't get hurt.
OK, I admit that one time he fell through that little opening in the front of the stroller.
It was one of those bent in half with the feet sticking out and the head smashed against the knees moments.
It was hilarious.
We pulled him out of it quickly, and he did just fine.
So, we watched a little closer after that.
*****
Eithan tried Dippin' Dots for the first time.
This little face makes it look like he may not have liked them.
But he wanted as much of that stuff as we would give him.
It was a nice cold treat for a hot afternoon.
*****
Ok, only one more note.
You know those kid's drinks that you can get at the zoo?
The ones that are in the shapes of animals... and filled with some kind of deliciousness?
I always remember that about zoos.
I remember also always getting one... because they are cool.
So... I had to get the pink dinosaur.
And then I had to take a picture with my super cool drink.
Because what's the point of buying something neat without documenting it?
{Don't you love that the wind swept my hair away at just the right moment?}
*****
All in all, a wonderful trip to the zoo with a bunch of wonderful friends.
{Mike's parents also were with us on this excursion.}
Left to Right: Joy Winks, Eithan Winks, Collin Winks, Kevin Asay, Aubrey Asay, Marsha Asay, Mike Asay
Totals for this part of the day:
$35 for Zoo tickets
Free Parking
{we lucked out and were able to park on the street}
$6 for Dippin' Dots
$3.50 for Pink Dinosaur
Free Water {we brought our own}
Free Breakfast and Lunch {we brought our own}
$5-$10 in gas
= $55 (ish)